Day 1268

Day 1268

Baladev and Atmavir pick up some donated treats (packs of Trader Joe's roasted seaweed) after completing a lap on Day 7 of the 2015 Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. A glance at the leader board reveals that Ashprihanal is still at the head of the pack, where he's been since he ran a remarkable 94.39 miles on Day 1.

Day 1268

Day 1268

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.

First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

Day 1268

This store must have taken its name from the 168th Street terminal station of the Jamaica El, which stood here on Jamaica Avenue prior to its demolition in the late 1970s. A woman I spoke to inside couldn't confirm the name's origin, but she told me the store has been around for 60 years or so. A couple of Long Island Daily Press articles from 1933 and 1935 suggest the business may be even older, however, and the final survivor of a mini-empire of neighboring Terminal shops once located a few blocks away on what is now Guy R. Brewer Boulevard: Terminal Flower Market, Terminal Lingerie and Hosiery Shops, Terminal Pants Shop (where Fats Wallerwas a customer), and Terminal Wines & Liquors. (There was also once a Terminal Sea Food in the area.)

Day 1268

Constructed in 1897-98, the long-vacantJamaica Savings Bank building "is a fine and particularly exuberant example of the classically inspired Beaux-Arts style strikingly executed in carved limestone and wrought iron, and is one of only a few buildings in the borough of Queens to embrace that architectural aesthetic. Prominently sited on Jamaica Avenue, the bank building is an urbane presence on the neighborhood’s main commercial thoroughfare. Although the four-story structure is relatively small in scale, the imposing design of the facade conveys a monumentality which is appropriately suited to the distinguished image and reputation of the banking institution, while lending the building the formal elegance of a private club or townhouse."

UPDATE (Oct. 2016): The old bank and its two neighbors to the right are being turned into a three-building retail complex. The 10-story tower that stood immediately to the right (visible above) has been knocked down and is being replaced by a structure similar in height to the bank building. Here's a rendering of the proposed development.

Day 1268

Day 1268

Built in 1895-96, the Dutch Revival-style PS 47, with its "witch's hat" dormers, was designed by the excellently named William B. Tubby. In 1909, the younger students were relocated and the building became the original Jamaica High School. In the decades since Jamaica High moved into its present home in 1927, the former PS 47 has served as a number of different schools; it is currently the Jamaica Learning Center.

Day 1268

I'm walking every street in New York City.

This is the counterpoint to my walk across the US. Instead of seeing a million places for just a minute each, I'm going to spend a million minutes exploring just one place. By the time I finish walking every block of every street in all five boroughs, I'll have traveled more than 8,000 miles on foot — all within a single city. Details!

Your donations allow me to keep walking full-time. If you think what I'm doing is valuable and you'd like to offer some support, I would be very grateful. On the other hand, if you think I'm a worthless bum, feel free to email me and tell me to get a job, bozo. Both are excellent options!